<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Welcome Back, Tillman? by DeltaNine</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131634">Welcome Back, Tillman?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeltaNine/pseuds/DeltaNine'>DeltaNine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Blaseball (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Tillman Henderson Has Feelings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:33:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>495</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131634</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeltaNine/pseuds/DeltaNine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tillman Henderson goes off about his return from the Hall of Flame.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Welcome Back, Tillman?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The shattering of glass echoed throughout the apartment. Tillman clenched his fist and smashed it into the wall behind him.</p>
<p>He cursed with a loud fervor that would shake anyone else awake. He ran his hands through his long, matted and tangled hair and gripped his scalp. “Those sons of bitches!” he shouted, pushing forward off the wall. “I was dead for so long… for so goddamn long, just watching on the edge of reality as they climbed up the ranks without me.”</p>
<p>“And then I come back out of the blue, thank you Jaylen you beautiful idiot,” Tillman continued to yell. “I get yanked right out of the hall and into the world again! Reborn! Not for the stupid crabs, but the sneaker stealers! I shouldn’t be surprised that everyone continued to ignore me, but for fuck’s sake, a welcome back would have been nice, at least!”</p>
<p>Henderson took a step forward and kicked aside the glass pieces that lay scattered across the floor. Remnants of the last beer he had in the fridge, and the last chance he had to drown out the emotions.</p>
<p>“But nooooo!” he wailed. “Big ol’ bad Tillman Henderson has come back to life through the same miracle that beloved Hotdogfingers went through! And I don’t even get a hello. I’m not acknowledged; hell, they go straight back to mocking me again.”</p>
<p>He picked up a shard of glass and gripped it hard in his fingers. Red poured out of the fresh cuts and dripped onto the floor. “It’s always been my fault, with the Crabs. The worst pitcher, the worst person anyone’s ever seen in this damn splort. And the Shoe Thieves reject me too? Fuck em! Fuck all of them! I don’t need them, and they sure as hell don’t need me!”</p>
<p>“So what if I blew a whole season?” Tillman said as he tossed the glass back to the pile. “So what if I was just a rookie trying to figure out how any of this worked? I still tried. I deserve some damn credit! And no one gave me any! I deserved to ascend with the Crabs, and now here I am stuck in Charleston! I deserved everything they denied me! I… I fucking…”</p>
<p>His vision grew immensely blurry as the tears he’d been holding back spilled over. He broke into a soul-wrenching sob and collapsed to his knees, the broken glass digging into his skin. Tillman didn’t care if he bled and ignored the pain.</p>
<p>He cried harder than he thought was possible for him. Between sobs, he blurted, “Why… couldn’t they… accept me? I just… wanted… to be loved too… why? Why?”</p>
<p>Tillman fell forward onto the floor, narrowly missing the rest of the broken bottle with his body. He continued to cry and shake until exhaustion crept up on him and the tears stopped. He laid still for a long moment after that.</p>
<p>“...why do I have to be the bad guy?”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>